10 Is the New 15 As Kids Grow Up Faster

My Way News ^ | 11/25/06 | MARTHA IRVINE

[luckystarmom]

We put my 10 year old daughters in private Christian school this year because they were being exposed to way too much negative influences in public school.

So far, the new private school is great and most of the kids seem to be much more like my daughters, a little bit innocent.

My 12 year old is still in public school. He's a good kid, but he is exposed to a lot. He says the language is horrible at school.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

In that case society on an average is acting it's age. What is the average of a 30 yr old and a 10 yr old ? You are right, it's 20. And that's because you are talking about two twenty year olds.

[luckystarmom]

My kids have not been as exposed to stuff as I was. When I was in elementary school, kids were smoking in the bathroom. By middle school, I knew kids doing heroin and other drugs. This was in middle class Dallas (Lake Highlands) back in the 70s.

[concerned about politics]

Whose fault is this??? Hormones? No. It's caused by moronic parents who indulge their child's every whim

We home school. What my children are taught is just as important as what they're not being taught. My 14 year old son can not only run his own home - he can build it, too.
He's got $720 in his savings account so far for his future down payment.

[hoosierham]

The adults have failed their children.
The adults in many businesses care nothing for the community only how much money they can make today.
Parents too often worry about being buddies or worse,living vicariously through their children.

My ex resisted any attempt to discipline her children from her first marriage and permitted them and their friends to drink beer and party while I was gone to work.

[dakine]

Horsehockey (the article)...did more, seen more by 13 then any kid nowadays (anecdotal, I know)...middle class kids aren't allowed to experience life's hardships...

[Old_Mil]

Natalie Wickstrom, a 10-year-old in suburban Atlanta, says girls her age sometimes wear clothes that are "a little inappropriate." She describes how one friend tied her shirt to show her stomach and "liked to dance, like in rap videos."

Banning rap videos from your home is a good start. It would be interesting to see what would happen if private schools banned rap videos from their preimses as well.

[RobbyS]

If they are "aging up " earlier ,they are maturing later. There are lots of people who are still teenagers at age 25.

[21stCenturyFreeThinker]

My kids have not been as exposed to stuff as I was.

Thanks for pointing this out. I grew up in the Richardson / Plano area around Dallas and graduated from HS in the late 70's. Sex, Drugs, and criminal behavior were very common in my Jr. high and high school.

The current generation of kids are much less violent, less likely to get pregnant, and less likely to use drugs overall than my generation was. I think we need to give them the credit they deserve as being a lot better behaved generation than we were.

We hear about a lot more high profile acts of violence because of the 24/7 news media's need to fill time. I remember a brutal and senseless act of teen violence that received only local news coverage. In today's media environment it would be covered nationwide and talked about for weeks.

Of course things can always be better and we should keep working to address these problems. But we need to look at the big picture and not get so caught up in blaming a whole generation for what a very small number of their peers do.

[conservative cat]

I was talking about this article with my 8-year-old daughter, who had no problem whatever coming up with examples from her 4th grade class at a Catholic school in a very conservative community.

We run into some of these problems at our Catholic school, too. It's much better than the public schools, but many of my 4th grade daughter's friends have indulgent parents.

[Dumb_Ox]

Plastic gives off chemical estrogen. Microwave food is a must have in our new world of immediate gratification. Plastics are everywhere.

Hormone Replacement Therapy and Birth Control Pills also fill the water supply with unabsorbed estrogen. Good thing I live upstream from most everywhere.

[Americanchild]

Plastic gives off chemical estrogen

And don't forget the prevalence of soy in everything. It contains bio-compatible estrogen as well. And what about meat animals raised with growth hormones?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Look no further than your local shopping mall. 10 year olds are out wearing sexually-suggestive clothing and acting like teenagers.

[altura]

The upside is that 75 is now the new 50.

[Clemenza]

100 years ago, it was common for a 14-15 year old girl to get married, often to an older man. Today, we call that "child molestation."

We have prolonged childhood for too long in this country. This is largely a post-WWII development. Methinks society would be better if kids were raised to take on some responsabilities from a younger age, and not spend so much time in our government education centers.

[Magic Fingers]

Plastic gives off chemical estrogen

And don't forget the prevalence of soy in everything. It contains bio-compatible estrogen as well. And what about meat animals raised with growth hormones?


You're about to get flamed by the meat-and-potato contingent (even though you're both right).

[goodnesswins]

The PARENTS aren't teaching (or practicing) DELAYED gratification.....unfortunately I believe all this leads to very unhappy people in adulthood who are constantly searching for FUN things to do instead or for ways to SERVE.

[gidget7]

"Plastic gives off chemical estrogen. Microwave food is a must have in our new world of immediate gratification. Plastics are everywhere."



First off, girls have always entered puberty in elementary school. But yes, plastic gives off estrogen, which is why it shouldn't be used in a microwave. Also, there are hormones in meat and Milk. (A practice that should stop) Hood just came out with hormone free milk, which is a good thing. But as far as the plastic and the hormones effecting female youngsters, which it does, we need to be looking at how it is lowering testosterone in male youngster too. That to me is even more alarming.

When you couple those problems with the "is it feels good, do it" all sex all the time, teaching in schools today, earlier and earlier, is it any wonder these kids are acting like teenagers? Society is denying them of their childhood, and their innocence, and that is more than a shame!

[HitmanLV]

Curiously, 40 is the new 19. Go figure that out!

[gidget7]

"It's all the hormones in the milk....."



And meats, and plastic.